Recruiting: Where things stand

The stretch drive is upon us, with National Signing Day just a little more than 200 hours away, as of blog press time.

For those of you who are breathlessly following every little recruiting detail – “OMG breaking news, Jonathan Jenkins had a great time on his visit to Athens, OMG OMG OMG!!!” – there won’t be much new here.

But for everyone else, hopefully this is a decent catch-up. As in our previous versions this is broken into three parts:

- First, a ranking of the most important current Georgia commitments. The criteria for “most important” is a combination of immediate impact, long-range potential, and filling a need position. A list that is purely a snapshot in time and a wild guess into the future. In other words, a list I guarantee to eventually be wrong.

- Next, the top remaining targets on Georgia’s big board: Not to say anyone not on the list has no chance of signing with Georgia, but according to the experts, these are the main focus at this point for the Bulldogs.

- An update on what to watch this week, in terms of potential announcements.

The most important current commitments (With height, weight and star-rankings by Scout.com, Rivals.com and 247.com)

1. DB-WR Malcolm Mitchell, Valdosta, Ga.
6-1 …… 190 ….. 4-4-4
2. TE Jay Rome, Valdosta, Ga.
6-6 ….. 240 …… 5-4-4
3. QB Christian LeMay, Matthews, NC (enrolled)
6-2 …. 188 ... 4-4-4
4. MLB Amarlo Herrera, College Park, Ga.
6-2 …. 215 …4-4-4
5. CB Nick Marshall, Rochelle, Ga.
6-2 …. 186 ….4-4-4
6. DB-ATH Damian Swann, Atlanta, Ga.
6-0 …. 175 … 4-4-4
7. S Corey Moore, Griffin, Ga.
6-1 …. 185 ….4-4-4
8. OT Zach DeBell, Tarpon Springs, Fla.
6-7 …. 265 ….3-4-3
9. C David Andrews, Norcross, Ga.
6-2 …. 276 ….3-3-3
10. S Chris Sanders, Tucker, Ga.
6-0 …. 173 …4-3-3
11. OT Watts Dantzler, Dalton, Ga.
6-7 …. 310 … 3-3-3
12. WR Justin Scott-Wesley, Camilla, Ga.
5-11 … 202 …3-4-4
13. WR Chris Conley, Dallas, Ga. (enrolled)
6-2 … 185 …..4-3-3
14. DE Sterling Bailey, Gainesville, Ga.
6-4 …. 230 …..3-4-3
15. DT Chris Mayes, Griffin, Ga.
6-5 …. 292 …..3-4-3
16. LB Ramik Wilson, Tampa, Fla.
6-3 …. 218 …. 3-3-3
17. G Hunter Long, Memphis, Tenn.
6-4 …. 290 ……3-3-3
18. CB Devin Bowman, Ridgeland, Ga.
6-0 …. 175 ….3-3-3
19. WR Sanford Seay, Leesburg, Ga.
6-2 … 198 ….. 3-3-3
20. LS Nathan Theus, Jacksonville, Fla.
6-3 …. 252 ….. 2-2-2
21. LB Quintavious Harrow, Columbus, Ga.
5-11 ….. 190 ….. 2-3-2

Mitchell and Rome, who committed last week, immediately moved up and bumped LeMay from the top spot. Mitchell, whose position destination is unknown, becomes the highest-rated commitment for Georgia so far. Rome is regarded by most experts as the nation’s top tight end prospect, so his value is more long term.

Harrow arrives at the bottom of the list, but for all his family and friends reading this, a lot of people viewed Zander Ogletree as a throw-in too, but he could be the starting fullback as a true sophomore.

(I also realize that I could rank Harrow higher because of the importance to getting Crowell. But I could also rank Theus higher for trying to get his brother next year. Frankly, we could say that about a lot of these kids and their friendships, so I’m just not including that as a factor here.)

The most important (known) players left on the board

1. RB Isaiah Crowell, Columbus, Ga.
6-0 ….. 210 …. 5-5-5
2. DE Ray Drew, Thomasville, Ga.
6-5 ….. 248 …. 4-5-4
3. DT John Jenkins, Mississippi Gulf Coast JUCO
6-4 …. 340 ….. 4-4-NR
4. OT Antonio Richardson, Nashville, Tenn.
6-6 …. 310 …. 4-4-4
5. ILB Kent Turene, Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.
6-3 …. 230 ….. 3-3-NR
6. Taylor Gadbois, Dallas, Ga.
6-8 …. 295 ….. 3-3-NR

Four of these guys (Crowell, Jenkins, Richardson and Turene) were on their visits over the weekend. Richardson, Turene and Gadbois are new additions to this list. Richardson would be a huge get, but he’s still considered a longshot for Georgia. Turene did not commit on his visit, despite some rumblings, so who knows what eventually will happen there.

Gadbois is committed to Miami but just got offered a scholarship by Georgia. (Interestingly enough, despite Cordy Glenn and Trinton Sturdivant announcing their returns, the Bulldogs have continued to offer offensive line prospects.)

- What to watch this week:

Drew is set to announce on Friday. Most people think he’s leaning towards Georgia, but Drew has sent some mixed signals.

Crowell is still slated for signing day. Jenkins could announce any day. While Georgia is technically limited to 25 new freshmen on scholarship next year, as I explained in the over-signing blog, there's some leeway here. So if Georgia wants to extend scholarship offers to Crowell's entire offensive line at Carver High School, it can and then sort it out later.